Kayak fishing hooks a new breed

Lightweight craft attracts angling enthusiasts to take on the challenge of reeling in the big one

March 22, 2004|By John Fleming, Special to the Tribune.

MONTEREY, Calif. — Allen Bushnell paddles against the wind toward an angry Pacific Ocean in a kayak weighing less than most of the fish he hopes to catch. Through the kelp beds that pepper Monterey Bay and past seals and sea otters, he finds a spot not far from the lip of an underwater canyon and drops his line with a dead squid attached.

Minutes later, Bushnell snags a small lingcod, a coastal fish that sometimes tops 50 pounds. It's good eating, but he's used to bigger catches.

Fishing from a kayak, the Santa Cruz resident says, can get a whole lot more interesting. The Pacific teems with monstrous fish, and Bushnell says it's possible to catch many of them from a boat small enough to carry on one's shoulder.

Kayak-fishing enthusiasts say their sport is gaining in popularity across the United States, with kayak manufacturers, such as Perception, reporting dramatic increases in sales. Those taken with the sport say their lightweight watercraft are cheaper and more environmentally friendly than power boats and, most important, provide some extreme experiences.

Kayak anglers, mostly for safety reasons, almost always go out in twos so there is a witness to verify the stories of their adventures.

Jim Sammons had two witnesses when he went kayak fishing a couple of years ago off La Jolla near San Diego. A striped marlin, an ill-tempered fish known to charge charter boats after being hooked, hit his line.

It spun his kayak around like a bobber and yanked the little boat out to sea at such a rapid clip his two companions couldn't keep up with him.

When the marlin finally broke the line, he had pulled Sammons nearly 8 miles.

Brendan Crahan, a Santa Cruz resident and fishing guide, is fond of fishing the rugged coast of Big Sur, near Monterey.

"A while back we were a couple of miles out, fishing along some rocks off Big Sur," he said, "when I heard this ruckus behind me.

"I turned around just in time to see this huge white shark come nearly all the way out of the water. He had a seal in his mouth and there was blood and other stuff all over the place," Crahan recalled. "That little incident gave me a new respect for the ocean."

"Anyone who understands what they are doing in this sport knows not to mess around with sharks," said Sammons, a kayak-fishing guide known as one of the fathers of the sport. He speaks especially of the mako shark.

"Imagine a thrashing shark weighing maybe 200 pounds, full of teeth and jumping out of the water and he's coming toward you." Sammons said. "You've got to cut the line and fast. You do not want him in a kayak with you."

Sammons and others say there are other hazards. Fog can roll in without warning, disorienting a kayaker. The wind and waves can pick up quickly and swamp or overturn the craft. In the 55-degree waters off northern California, hypothermia is another peril.

Still, guides in California say the sport also is drawing fans along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico.

"The price alone makes it attractive," said Steve Scott, a kayak fisherman from Mill Valley, Calif. "I can get totally outfitted in a kayak for around $1,000. It could cost tens of thousands to get into a power boat."

Bushnell is hooked. "It'll catch on a lot faster once people understand that it can be safe and it can be fun ... and that you don't have to be into extreme sports to do it."